Glover Teixeira on Jon Jones: Hoping for the Best, Preparing for the Worst

The psychology of fistfighting is a funny thing. Successful fighters by their very nature have to be brimming with confidence. They have to be. Otherwise, adversity would make them crumble long before they ever got to the Octagon. But it’s a fine line between accepting reality and swimming in delusion, and a healthy dose of reality is as important to a career as is that almost-superhuman confidence.

Which leads us to Glover Teixeira. The Brazilian slugger is taking on champ Jon Jones for the belt at UFC 172 on April 26, and sure, Teixeira is a killer and a top contender and all that, but he’s also no fool. He knows that Jones is the best. Hence this quote, which he gave to MMAFighting’s Brazilian correspondent Guilherme Cruz:

“In a perfect world, I’ll win via first-round knockout,” Teixeira told MMAFighting.com. “But I believe it’s going to be a tough fight. Jon Jones is an excellent fighter, so I expect a tough bout. I will be ready for five rounds. I was ready to go five rounds against Bader and will be ready now, so we’ll see who will leave the cage as the champion.”

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Well duh, of course every fighting is hoping to end things quickly in every bout – no one gets paid by the hour in any cage, and like we learned in Fight Club, on a long enough timeline, the survival rate for everyone drops to zero. But how much of a dork is Teixeira going to look like if he starts pounding his chest proclaiming Jones is definitely going down in the first, when in fact Jones survives to rounds two or three?

I guess now would be a good time to ask who you’re picking in the Jones vs. Teixeira fight – well?